Contemporary robotic work tools are becoming more and more advanced and are able to perform more and more advanced tasks such as executing advanced operation patterns.
In the example of lawnmower robots the advanced working pattern may be a complicated mowing pattern based on the layout of a garden including bushes, garden islands and other structures. To successfully navigate such complicated areas some contemporary robotic work tools employ satellite navigation.
A satellite navigation or sat nav system is a system of satellites that provide autonomous geo-spatial positioning with global coverage. It allows small electronic receivers to determine their location (longitude, latitude, and altitude) to within a few metres, or even centimetres, using signals transmitted along a line-of-sight by radio from satellites. Receivers calculate the precise time as well as position and carrier phase, which can be used as a reference for scientific experiments. A satellite navigation system with global coverage may be termed a global navigation satellite system or GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).
The use of GNSS systems requires good reception of satellite signals to work reliably. The satellite signals may sometimes be blocked by buildings, roofs, awnings, foliage or trees. To improve the accuracy of GNSS systems a reference receiver, or beacon, within a short distance from the target receiver can be used. This is called differential GNSS. There are several
DGNSS techniques, such as the classical DGNSS (or DGPS), the Real Time Kinematics (RTK) and the Wide Area RTK (WARTK).
However, the signal from a beacon may also be blocked by for example a house if the garden or other work area extends around the building.
If the robotic work tool is unable to correctly receive the signals from the position determining system, the robotic work tool will be challenged to correctly navigate the work area and a satisfactory coverage of the work area may not be achieved by the robotic work tool.
It should be noted that similar problems exist also for other position determining devices, such as using optical beacons where the line of sight may be blocked in certain areas.
Even though the problems above have been discussed for lawnmower robotic work tools, the same or similar problems exist also for other robotic work tools.
There is thus a need for a manner of enabling reliable operation of a robotic work tool even in situations where the robotic work tool may not be able to receive reliable signals.